NYT While cases are climbing in China, the situation is very different from what it was when Covid-19 emerged five years ago, medical experts say. HMPV has circulated in humans for decades.
Reports of a surge in cases of a respiratory virus in China have evoked dark echoes of the start of the Covid-19 pandemic almost exactly five years ago.
But despite the surface similarities, this situation is very different, and far less worrisome, medical experts say.
The Chinese cases are reported to be infections with human metapneumovirus, known to doctors as HMPV. Here is what we know so far: